Epstein files: Democrats accuse Trump administration of releasing only half estimated number of pages, demand full access to documents

After a month of silence on the Epstein files, the US Department of Justice now believes it has fulfilled its obligation to release all the documents, as required by the law passed by Congress, albeit after the deadline. But opposition Democratic politicians insist the Trump administration has kept far too many documents unpublished – possibly as many as 2.5 million – without concrete justification, writes BBC News.

The massive batch of millions of pages of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's files released Friday by the Justice Department predictably contains references to several public figures who were previously associated with Epstein.

And U.S. President Donald Trump's name comes up again: in one document there are several allegations against him from an FBI tip line, allegations that investigators at the time found implausible.

When asked about the allegations, the White House directed reporters to a Justice Department press release that said “some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims about President Trump that were provided to the FBI just before the 2020 election,” and insisted that those claims “are baseless and false, and if they had even an iota of credibility, they would certainly have been used by now.” as a weapon against President Trump.”

But while the Justice Department considers its work largely done, many of Trump's supporters in MAGA's base are unlikely to be satisfied. They have long believed there was a conspiracy to protect the rich and powerful with ties to Epstein — and even Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who announced the release of the latest batch of documents, has admitted it won't end the scandal. There is a thirst for information, he said, that these new documents will not satisfy.

Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019, in custody, the death being categorized as suicide, although conspiracy theories continue, fueled by Donald Trump's statements in the 2024 election campaign.

Democrats are skeptical

The latest documents were released weeks after a Dec. 19 deadline set by Congress, which passed bipartisan legislation requiring the full release of the Epstein files, despite Trump's months-long effort to block it.

Many of the documents, however, are heavily censored, with administration officials justifying that this was done to protect victims or ongoing investigations, under exceptions allowed by law. An 82-page document, for example, had all but one page completely covered.

Democratic politicians immediately questioned the transparency of the process, namely whether the administration provided all the relevant materials, given that, of the 6 million pages initially identified by the Department of Justice, only 3.5 million were published.

Congressmen want full access to files

Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee in the US House of Representatives are now requesting full access to all files in the Epstein case, the American press reported, according to the BBC.

The commission questioned why the Justice Department released only half of the estimated number of pages in the Epstein files.

In a letter, the Judiciary Committee recalls that the Department of Justice claimed to have more than six million files and also highlights that more than 200,000 pages of the published documents are censored or classified.

The congressmen say an “urgent” review of the documents is needed, given that a public hearing by Attorney General Pam Bondi is also due to take place.

How the Epstein files came to be published

The US government was forced to release this huge dossier under the duress of a law passed by Congress and which President Donald Trump reluctantly signed into law.

Specifically, last November, the US Congress approved a bill requiring the Department of Justice to release all documents and records in its possession relating to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to the text, the file had to be published within 30 days.

For months, Donald Trump waged a veritable campaign to block this vote. He also insisted he had “nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein”, claiming he fired the financier from Mar-a-Lago, his luxury club in Florida, because he was “a sick pervert”.

But faced with protests from within his own party, the Republican president reversed course and expressed support for the bill. “We have nothing to hide,” Trump claimed, then denounced the law as a “hoax” orchestrated by the Democratic opposition.

However, he did not explain why he did not order the attorney general – the justice minister – to release these documents directly, without going through a vote in Congress.